Considered one of the best left-arm spinners ever, Bishan Singh Bedi breathed his last on Monday, October 23, 2023. He is survived by his four children, Angad Bedi, Neha Bedi, Gavasinder Bedi and Gillinder Bedi.
Bishan Bedi was born in Amritsar on 25 September 1946. He plied his trade in Indian domestic cricket for Punjab and Delhi. Bedi, a true master of his art, made his India debut against the West Indies in the 1967 Test in Kolkata.
He played 67 Tests, taking 266 wickets with a best of 7/98 at an average of 28.71 and an economy of 2.14. He formed a dangerous spin quartet for India with leg-spinner Bhagwath Chandrasekhar and off-spinners Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkataraghavan in the 1960s-1970s.
Bedi also played 370 FC matches and picked 1560 wickets, including a long tenure for Northamptonshire in English county cricket.
Apart from Tests, Bedi also featured in 10 ODIs, taking 7 wickets. He played a huge role in India’s first-ever ODI win, over East Africa in the 1975 World Cup. His miserly bowling figures of 12-8-6-1 are still considered a record.
He also captained India in 22 Tests and was infamous for declaring India’s innings in the 4th Test in Jamaica of the 1976 series against West Indies, when the four-prong pace attack injured 5 Indian players.
In November 1978, he became the first captain to concede an international cricket match, against Pakistan in Sahiwal after Sarfaraz Nawaz bowled 4 bouncers in a row and umpires didn’t call wide for a single one.
He later was the coach of the Indian team as well, who infamously on a 1990 tour of England, threatened to dump the entire team in the sea after poor performance.
